Around the World in 80 Days: Day 44, The Cute Stuff

This one’s for you Rosalie! Japan has an obsession with cute. Like… really really has an obsession with cute. In Japanese the word for cute is “kawaii” and there’s a massive culture built around it. I’m getting a little sucked in to the madness with anything that is a black cat, and of course, Gudetama. Let’s look at some pics.

This is Gudetama, which means “lazy egg.” The link will tell you more about it. I didn’t get it at first but I’ve developed a bit of an obsession with the egg. I’m still not so sure I get it. Gudetama is a Sanrio character and Sanrio is the same company who gives us Hello Kitty. On that note…

Surely you all know Hello Kitty. I searched far and wide for some more unusual Hello Kitty things. Yep. That’s totally a camera. It’s a little less than $82.

Hello Kitty Uniqlo gift cards. Uniqlo is like the Japanese version of Gap clothing.

Huge, long pillow. Hope that tides you over for a bit Rosalie!

It wasn’t hard to find cute things in Onishi, but there isn’t an abundance of things there like there is in Tokyo. This is the Gunma Prefecture mascot. It’s a horse. He’s dressed up for the fall festival.

Also in Onishi… of all of the things to make cute, here’s a gun-totin’ gangster.

Ok now comes an even crazier trend: stores full of claw machines. Ryder and I stumbled into this place while wandering through Shinjuku. It is a sensory overload.

Row after row of machines provided for you to try to grab something cute. If I remember, I’ll go back and get a shot of the place so you can see all of the rows of machines.

More.

More.

More. And the place had a constant stream of people cycling through it. Not kids. Not teens. Young adults. Even saw single men in there putting tokens into machines to get cute plushies. Mind blown.

Outside, you’ll often come across rows of little toy vending machines that you’ll put anywhere from 100 to 500 yen in for a little rounded capsule with something cute inside.

A closeup. I admit I did it once at a machine that promised me a cute little figurine of mochi with a face doing something cute. Stupid thing was tiny. I spent the equivalent of $2 on something that probably cost a penny to make. Not doing that again.

Even giving blood is cute!

Cute stuff with cute stuff as pets?!

Star Wars also cannot escape the cute…

To tie this in a fluffy pink bow, here’s the most recent cute purchases I made:

This is called long cat. “OMG it’s black and it’s long! I have to have it and I have to hang it from my purse like a Japanese person!”

And this is a Gudetama bag in all of it’s glory. Where else am I going to store all of my cute stuff?!